Ankara governor rules out bomb warnings as ‘ungrounded’

ANKARA

Governor of Ankara Mehmet Kılıçlar (L) briefs Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu (C) and Interior Minister Efkan Ala (R) as they visit the site of a suicide bomb attack in Ankara, Turkey February 19, 2016. REUTERS Photo

The governor of the Turkish capital of Ankara has ruled out claims on social media warning against bombs in shopping malls and other crowded places in the capital, declaring the claims were “ungrounded.”

“These claims are not true and they are ungrounded. Our people should not believe this sort of news. Security forces are vigilant and we do our share,” Ankara Governor Mehmet Kılıçlar said on March 15 upon claims spread on social media that cited a large number of bomb warnings for crowded places in Ankara such as shopping malls.

Security forces have beefed up preemptive measures, as the claims easily spread on social media on the morning of March 15.

The Ankara Police Department, meanwhile, released a written statement, denying several other claims on social media that two militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) had been captured in Ankara’s Gordion Shopping Mall and that a car bomb had been seized in the capital.

“The news such as ‘two terrorists have been captured in Ankara Gordion AVM’ and ‘a car bomb has been seized’ that have been spread on social media over the past hour are baseless,” the department said, adding that these stories were fabricated to create public unrest.